New NME Interview
www.nme.com/features/music-interviews/liam-gallagher-and-john-squire-tour-3614825Liam Gallagher and John Squire on their long-awaited collaboration: βAfter all the dust settles, itβs 10 great songsβ
As the dream team wrap up their European tour, Gallagher and Squire reflect on their Number One album, answer the critics and share their plans for a union that βcould go anywhereβ
By
Jordan Bassett
9th April 2024
βWhat do you wanna know, then?β Liam Gallagher demands as he ushers NME into his modest dressing room, tucked away in north Londonβs warren-like O2 Forum Kentish Town. He grins. βYeah, Noelβs still a cXXt!β
Heβs joking, although relations with his big brother havenβt exactly cooled (more of which later). Yet weβre here to discuss an altogether different musical union β one thatβs been more than 30 years in the making. Joining us is former Stone Roses guitar wizard John Squire, who gives Liam a big hug and utters a sage: βLGβ¦β
Liam in a tan trapper hat and John in a metallic grey hoodie, they take their seats for a catch-up that will reveal the dynamics of their long-awaited collaborative album, which was released last month under the no-frills title βLiam Gallagher John Squireβ. The singer practically vibrates with energy, sometimes rising to act out the stories heβs telling with comic gusto, while John is low-key and deadpan throughout, occasionally offering a sly smile as he delivers answers best described as βconciseβ.
In a few hours, the pair will air the album to a sold-out crowd of more than 2,000, a celebration of the recordβs success. Itβs a classic-sounding combination of Roses psychedelia and Oasis swagger, packed with wailing solos and bluesy licks that draw on Johnβs love of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, while Liam snarls through lyrics streaked with surrealistic flourishes. βThereβs blood in my custard,β he admits on blues cruncher βIβm A Wheelβ, before adding, reasonably: βIβm misunderstoodβ¦β
With some inevitability, given its authorsβ pedigree, the album went straight to the top of the charts, outselling the competition three to one. This marks Liamβs sixth Number One album since the launch of his juggernaut solo comeback in 2017, though he shrugs at the accolade: βIβm not counting, man. Iβm not one to boast either, you know what I mean? Iβm glad people bought this record [and a Number One] looks good on the CV, but it still would have been the same record if it went to fucking Number 40.β
Still, he reflects, βit just goes to show that people are invested into what weβre doing. And, actually, itβs a fucking top record.β
βIt is,β John says quietly.
The album was also critically acclaimed (not least by NME, who dished out a glowing four-star review), though a small minority of fans expressed misgivings online. This is perhaps natural, given the anticipation attached to the first album from the guitarist of the Stone Roses and the singer of Oasis.
βPeople have got high expectations and Iβm the same,β concedes Liam, βbut after all the dust settlesβ¦ itβs fucking 10 great songs with some great fucking musicians playing it and Iβm singing decent.β
βItβs still a baby,β John notes.
βI always say that,β agrees Liam. βThe Stone Roses songs have been around for fucking years β everyone wanks over βem; Oasis songs have been around for years β everyone wanks over βem. The Stones, The Beatlesβ¦ [This albumβs] only been around a couple of months. Come back in a couple of yearsβ time, [when] itβs really got inside everyoneβs DNA.β
The Stone Roses entered Liamβs DNA at the age of 16, when he saw them play the International 2 in Manchester in 1989, an experience he later described as βlife-changingβ. By the time Oasis crowned themselves the biggest band in the world with their enormous Knebworth House shows in 1996, John had quit the Roses, who were to be short-lived in his absence.
Liam and Noel paid homage to their forebears when they famously invited Squire to noodle through βChampagne Supernovaβ at those career-defining gigs, a trick Liam repeated upon his return to Knebworth as a solo star in summer 2022. It was here that the seeds of βLiam Gallagher John Squireβ were sown.
βI remember,β John says, turning to Liam, βafter the hellos and βI like your jacketβ and shit like that, you saying: ββSo, do you fancy doing some tunes or what?ββ
Liam leans in: βIβm going, βAs long as theyβve got loads of guitars onβ¦β Because thatβs what itβs fucking about, innit?β Less appealing, he says, would have been βsomeone turning to me and going, βLook, weβre gonna do three songs with you as the standard rockβnβroll singer, butβ¦ I wanna bring that yodeller out of you.β Or doing some fucking rapping. It ainβt happening! John does what he does; I do what I do.β
It is, admittedly, not what Johnβs done much of in recent years. He last released an album, the overlooked solo record βMarshallβs Houseβ, in 2004. The Roses made a surprise comeback in 2011, but disbanded once more in 2017 after the old tensions recurred. Astonishingly, they promised a third album, but ultimately managed only a couple of tepid singles. In the main, John says, heβs spent the past two decades raising his six children and making expressionistic visual art. βI look after the kids,β he says, βI put the odd shelf up, I paint and play guitar.β
Was it slightly mind-boggling, then, to get onstage at Knebworth in front of 170,000 people, or is performing like riding a bike?
βI had plenty of time to get nervous backstage about riding a bike again,β he recalls. βIt was like a two-and-a-half-hour wait while Liam was up there doing the gig!β
Perhaps the experience acted as some kind of creative jump-start, given the zeal with which he βknuckled downβ to write the album. You have to wonder, though, how it took them over three decades to realise how well Liamβs paint-stripper voice would complement Johnβs honeyed guitar tone.
βItβs not like dialling up a fucking pizza, is it?β Liam protests. βItβs not getting Deliveroo.β He cites their conflicting schedules over the years, as well as the fact that βthe pressureβs off now in lifeβ¦ I donβt give a fuck anymore. And I didnβt give a fuck, pretty much, before, either.β
The duo collaborated once previously, during the first phase of Liamβs rockβnβroll career and in the second stage of Johnβs. In 1997, the guitaristβs short-lived post-Roses band the Seahorses released their first and only album βDo It Yourselfβ, which featured βLove Me and Leave Meβ, a wistful track that opens with the memorable lines: βDonβt believe in Jesus / Donβt believe in Jah.β Liam might not appear on the tune, but he and John share the writing credit (surprisingly, itβs the first Liam had to his name).
βI donβt even remember doing it,β he says. βI just remember John being round our house just fucking about. We were obviouslyβ¦β
ββ¦Battered.β
Theyβd been out βpartyingβ with pals in London and come back en masse to Liamβs gaff, which actually belonged to his partner at the time, Patsy Kensit. The actor was in the process of divorcing Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr, with whom sheβd shared the place. The following morning, recalls Liam, the press descended and informed Kerr ββthereβs all these long-haired people coming out of your house in cagoulesβ¦ He was thinking, βWho are these fucking long-haired fuckers coming out the house?β It was us!β
At some point during the festivities, Liam βwas talking shite about Jesus and Jah and loads of stuff β and then John turned it into a tuneβ.
Back in 1997, the guitarist told an interviewer: βI would have started a group with Liam. But heβs a bit busy, obviously. Iβm sure weβll write more songs together, though.β When we read him the quote, he arches his eyebrows slightly, which is probably the closest he comes to looking surprised. βI said that? In the β90s?β At the time, he admits, he βwouldnβt have had the balls to askβ Liam to commit to a full album. Even after all these years, though, the dream hasnβt quite come to fruition as heβd hoped it would.
βI thought,β he explains, βwe would be writing togetherβ¦β
ββ¦ I bailed,β Liam chuckles. βYouβve never seen a parachute pulled so quickly.β He jumps up and mimes pulling the ripcord β whoomph! β to be dragged away into the ether. βI prefer singing. Going through your DNA with a fine-tooth comb, it just fucking stresses me out.β
So it was left to John to pen the tunes, whoβs not exactly bearing his soul in their elliptical, βcut-upβ lyrics, either. Yet he says some lines of autobiography might have crept in, which makes you wonder what heβs getting at when, on the groove-laden βOne Day at a Timeβ, he has Liam sneer: βI know youβre happy in your suburban trance / You should have fucked me when you had the chance.β
βThere is,β John says slowly, βa bit of history in that line,β then offers a flinty look that suggests the subject is closed.
Squire demoed the album at his home in Macclesfield, before he and Liam met producer Greg Kurstin for a blistering three-week recording session in Los Angeles. Plenty of material hit the cutting-room floor as they homed in on an all-killer-no-filler record.
βIβm glad thereβs only 10 songs on the album,β says Liam. βI think when you start doing more songs you take the foot off the gas on certain songs. Everything went into these 10 songs.β Some artists pad out their albums to appease streaming platform algorithms. βWell, theyβre just teacherβs fucking pets, arenβt they? Weβre not here to be fucking famous and try to break into China, go up against fucking K-pop and that. We donβt wanna be fucking breaking out into too many sweats, you know what I mean? Weβre at a certain age now. We donβt wanna look desperate.β
A streamlined record has meant streamlined shows, as theyβve eschewed Oasis and Roses songs to instead showcase new material, plus a crowd-pleasing cover of the Rolling Stonesβ βJumpinβ Jack Flashβ (chosen over George Harrisonβs βWah Wahβ and Freddie Kingβs blues banger βGoing Downβ, which were in the running too). Some reviewers have grumbled that the gigs clock in at less than an hour, but John parries that a new band would put in a similar shift.
β10 songs and a fucking cover!β Liam exclaims. βWhatβs wrong with yous?β A new act, he points out, βwouldnβt fucking do a cover, so they can count themselves luckyβ.
Liam will, however, dust off some old favourites with this summerβs βDefinitely Maybeβ 30th anniversary shows, where heβll play Oasisβ perfect debut album in full. There were rumours that he and Noel might patch-up their long-running feud to mark the milestone, but βitβs not happening, mateβ. Could that leave next yearβs β(Whatβs the Story) Morning Gloryβ anniversary open for a reunion? βI donβt know β I donβt think thatβs happening either,β he shrugs. βItβs not happening at this moment in time.β
It seems thereβs little chance of a fourth coming for the Stone Roses, too, though Squire still sees bassist Mani, whoβs βintoβ the new album and even gifted the amplifier that his old friend will use onstage tonight. Maniβs wife Imelda sadly died in November, and John saw Ian at her funeral: βHe was fine that day, but weβre not sending each other Christmas cards or anything.β
In any case, Liam and John have plenty to focus on in the here and now. Thereβs the small matter of a follow-up to βLiam Gallagher John Squireβ, for instance. βYouβre never gonna know what [that album] is until you do another one,β reasons Liam. βThis is like a starter. You want the main fucking course, donβt you? And the dessert.β
John arches his eyebrows β very slightly β once more: βSo weβre doing three?β
βWell, whatever. Do as many as we want, you know what I mean?β
John insists he doesnβt have two decadesβ worth of unissued material lying around in a vault in Macclesfield, but there are βlittle phone recordings [of] riffs and shitβ that didnβt make it onto this album and could be worked up for the second. Sonically, says Liam, their union βcould go anywhereβ.
He grins. βMe, personally, Iβd like to do it the fucking same just piss off the people that werenβt into it in the first place. Like thatβ β he thumbs his nose β ββItβs the saaaame again, you little cxxt!ββ
Liam Gallagher and John Squireβs collaborative album βLiam Gallagher John Squireβ is out now